Industrial Relations In Germany Research Articles

Seven decades of industrial relations in Germany

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the development of industrial relations (IR) in Germany since the end of the Second World War and discusses the current challenges posed by economic globalisation und European integration.Design/methodology/approachCombining a political economy, identifying Germany as a coordinated market economy (social market economy), and actor-centred historical institutionalism approach, outlining the formation and strategies of the main social actors within a particular institutional setting, the paper draws on the broad range of research on IR in Germany and its theoretical debates, including own research in the field.FindingsThe legacy of the key institutional settings in the post-war era – primarily the social market economy, co-determination at supervisory boards, works councils and sector-based non-ideological unions with their analogously organised employer counterparts, as well as the dual system of interest representation – has shaped the German IR and still underlie the bargaining processes and joint learning processes although trade unions and employers’ associations have been weakened because of loss of membership. In consequence the coverage scope of collective agreements is now somewhat reduced. Despite being declared dead many times, the “German model” of a “conflictual partnership” of capital and labour has survived many turbulent changes affecting it to the core.Originality/valueThe paper presents an original, theoretical informed reconstruction of the German IR and allows an understanding of the current institutional changes and challenges in the light of historical legacies. Additionally the theoretical debates on path dependence and learning processes of collectivities are enriched through its application to the German case.

Germany: an intertwined two-part system of unilateralism and collective bargaining

Public sector industrial relations in Germany consist of two parts. On the one hand, wages and working conditions for civil servants are unilaterally determined by law, and on the other, there is a completely developed industrial relations system for non-civil servants (employees) working in the sector. Remarkably, although they have no right to take industrial action, civil servants are not in a worse situation than employees. In view of a simple concept of industrial relations where employers and workers are in complementary labour market roles, this seems difficult to explain. Indeed, public sector industrial relations are more complex. The article suggests that bargaining in the public sector is less an economic procedure than a dispute over the political, societal and statutory recognition of public services and an adequate participation of employees. Being aware of this special character of public sector industrial relations, the United Services Trade Union (Ver.di) tries to back strikes by organising societal support, whereas the German Federation of Civil Servants (DBB) operates more by lobbying in the political sphere and by recourse to the constitution. In spite of a general decline in collective bargaining and trade union density, and long years of austerity, both types of industrial relations are relatively stable.

ドイツにおける労使関係への国家介入の歴史的展開 : 1930年代大恐慌期を中心に(大会報告・共通論題:1930年代における経済政策思想の転換-危機下の社会問題を視点として-,2009年度政治経済学・経済史学会秋季学術大会)

ドイツにおける労使関係への国家介入の歴史的展開 : 1930年代大恐慌期を中心に(大会報告・共通論題:1930年代における経済政策思想の転換-危機下の社会問題を視点として-,2009年度政治経済学・経済史学会秋季学術大会)

4.The Labor Productivity and Industrial Relations in Germany

4.The Labor Productivity and Industrial Relations in Germany

Foreign owners and the quality of industrial relations in Germany

German works councils provide a highly developed mechanism for codetermination designed to increase trust and cooperation within firms. This study examines whether or not the functioning of works councils depends on the type of ownership. Comparing domestic- and foreign-owned firms in Germany, the article finds that works councils and managers in foreign-owned firms are less likely to cooperate. The finding fits the notion that the activities of foreign multinational companies can involve tensions with the institutional framework of the host country.

Holding the shop together: German industrial relations in the postwar era

This book examines the course of industrial relations in Germany since the war but, given the long-standing role of the state, necessarily reaches back a little beyond 1945. Its main title may soun...

Deregulation of Temporary Agency work and Effects of Industrial Relations in Germany

Deregulation of Temporary Agency work and Effects of Industrial Relations in Germany

Veränderungen in betrieblichen Beschäftigungsverhältnissen: Ergebnisse einer empirischen Untersuchung

Aufbauend auf der These einer zunehmenden Vermarktlichung von Beschäftigungsverhältnissen und des Endes der Organisationsgesellschaft von Davis (2009a, 2009b) untersuchen wir den Wandel der Industrienation Deutschland zur Dienstleistungs- und Wissensgesellschaft und fragen, ob mit diesem Wandel eine Auflösung des für den deutschen Arbeitsmarkt typischen Normalarbeitsverhältnisses einhergeht (Dombois, 1999). Dabei werden drei Elemente betrachtet, welche eine Entwicklung hin zu einer marktgesteuerten Beschäftigungsstrategie beeinflussen könnten: 1) sektorspezifische Prägungen der Beschäftigungsverhältnisse, 2) organisationsstrukturelle Einflüsse und 3) das System der industriellen Beziehungen in Deutschland. Die Ergebnisse unserer Untersuchung verdeutlichen, dass sich Veränderungen in den Beschäftigungsverhältnissen in Deutschland zeigen, dass diese im Produktionssektor jedoch nicht zu einem allgemeinen Wandel der Beschäftigungsmuster führen, sondern dass in diesem Beschäftigungssegment vielmehr vom Rand der Beschäftigung her eine Flexibilisierung der Beschäftigungsverhältnisse erfolgt, die die Beschäftigungsform der Kernbelegschaften der Betriebe des Produktionssektors bislang nicht verändert hat.

The erosion of corporatism? The rescaling of industrial relations in Germany

By the 1980s, some scholars had already claimed that corporatism, as an expression and institution of the bilateral negotiations between trade unions and employers’ associations, had come to an end. This perception is stronger nowadays than it was then. Quite often it is argued that, as a result of economic liberalisation and the paradigm shift from Keynesianism to Monetarism, industrial relations are under pressure, and that this is accompanied by a weakening of trade union power. In this article, the development of collective negotiations and the new contours of corporatism are analysed with respect to Germany. At the moment we are witnessing a decentralisation of formerly central negotiations and their differentiation in the direction of collective and/or concession bargaining at the level of the firm. At the same time, there is an important trend towards the up-scaling of industrial relations to the European Union level. The central argument of the article, therefore, is that a rescaling of industrial relations is taking place, which does not necessarily mean an end to corporatism but, rather, profoundly new qualities of corporatism. In order to develop the argument, changes in industrial and political organisation are examined.

In the Shadow of Traditional Industrial Relations in Germany

This paper makes a contribution to the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) literature. It explains how some firms can—on a sustainable basis—be subject to an institutional configuration different from th...

Individual Characteristics of Work Council Members – Empirical Evidence

The main body of research on work councils has been conducted on a collective institutional level, neglecting work council members at an individual level. In times of changing industrial relations, the importance of work councils in management decision making has risen steadily and thus further research of its members is required. This paper sheds light onto work councillors as individuals by investigating personality and attitudinal characteristics using data from a large representative German dataset. The findings are gender-specific and suggest that female work councillors are more extraverted and exhibit a stronger internal Locus of Control, while male work councillors are more conscientious as compared to their non-councillor counterparts. Risk attitudes and reciprocity do not show as valid predictors of work council membership. Implications of the results are discussed. Key words: work councils, Five Factor Model, risk aversion, locus of control, reciprocity (ProQuest: ... denotes formula omitted.) 1. Introduction The research on the topic of industrial relations has grown significantly over the last decades. Notably, a variety of research questions - mainly concerning the determinants and economic outcomes of the existence of work councils - has been posed regarding the institution of the work council.1 The main body of research has focused on work councils as collective organs, neglecting the people representing it at an individual level. Changing industrial relations in Germany have been characterized by decentralisation (Muller-Jentsch 1997). This has led to an increased demand for bargaining at the establishment level (Verbetrieblichung) and consequentially to a much stronger involvement of work councils in managerial decision processes (Nienhuser/Hossfeld 2007). The enhanced knowledge of the individual bargaining partners is crucial in understanding the functioning of work councils. The increasing heterogeneity of industrial relations is also apparent in the research on types of work councils (e.g. Kotthoff 1981, 1994; Nienhuser 2005). To date, our knowledge of the action strategies of various types of work councils is limited. One factor in learning about the action strategies of work councils may be the individual characteristics and personality of its members. For example, work councillors are exposed to conflicts of interests to a greater extent than other employees, which leads to emotional strain and stress.2 Therefore, one may expect that only those who feel capable of dealing with such high levels of stress would take on a position within the work council. Yet, engaging in a work council provides the opportunity to make use of the rights of codetermination and thereby have the chance to participate in managerial decision processes. Nevertheless, only a very small fraction of the workforce is in fact a member of a work council. The basis for such individual action strategies in becoming a work councillor can be seen in the individual set of preferences and personality structure that determines emotions, thoughts, and behaviour (Pervin et al. 2005). Only recently, Borghans et al. (2008) have emphasized the linkage of personality measures from psychology and economic preferences, such as time preferences and risk aversion, with economic outcomes in general. As work councils - characterized by the actions of their individual members - are considered to impact on the performance of the company they work for, this strongly encourages looking at the individual. The objective of the present paper is to shed light onto work councillors as individuals by investigating personality and attitudinal characteristics as determinants to work council membership. The following psychological and economic concepts are applied to differentiate among members and non-members of work councils: the Five Factor Model, risk aversion, hocus of Control, and reciprocity. The use of a large scale representative data set from Germany provides an opportunity to empirically analyse this paper's objective, which has, to the best knowledge of the author, not been made use of before. …

Modernizing the German Works Council System: A Recent Amendment

The statute on the German works council system, somehow the backbone of industrial relations in Germany and a point of reference in many comparative studies on workers' participation, has been significantly amended in 2001. This amendment was supposed to improve the conditions for the application of the law in small and medium-sized companies, to adapt the traditional organizational structure to the needs of an ever changing reality, to improve the ressources available to the works councils and to increase the works council's powers in specific areas. It turned out to be highly controversial. The article describes the innovations in a sketchy way and tries to evaluate their impact on the future functioning of the works council system in Germany.

Stability in Germany’s Industrial Relations: A Critique on Hassel’s Erosion Thesis

In a recent article entitled ‘The Erosion of Industrial Relations in Germany’, Anke Hassel (1999) claimed that German industrial relations have been eroded during the last two decades. This paper questions the argument, maintaining that Germany’s basic industrial relations system remains intact and that the major changes in Germany relate to unification and the public sector.

Corporate Governance in Transition: Ten Empirical Findings on Shareholder Value and Industrial Relations in Germany

Within the context of debates over national “varieties” of capitalism, this paper discusses the shareholder value orientation of the 40 largest listed German companies. Three dimensions of shareholder value are distinguished: the communicative dimension, the operative dimension and the dimension of managerial compensation. A shareholder value index compiling data on accounting, investor relations, variable top-management compensation and the implementation of profitability goals makes it possible to compare the shareholder orientations of the companies. The shareholder value phenomenon is explained first by the exposure to markets – the international product market, capital market pressures and the market for corporate control – and, secondly, by internal developments – changing management careers, increasing management compensation and reduced monitoring by banks and corporate networks – which cause external impulses to increase shareholder value to fall on fertile ground. Conflicts over shareholder orientation result in changing coalitions between shareholders, management, and employees. Shareholder value does not make companies opt out of central collective agreements or endanger the existence of employees’ codetermination, but it does lead to more market-driven industrial relations. Mit Bezug auf die Debatte um Varianten des Kapitalismus wird in diesem Papier die Shareholder-Value-Orientierung der 40 grosten borsennotierten deutschen Aktiengesellschaften diskutiert. Es werden drei Dimensionen kapitalmarktorientierter Unternehmensfuhrung unterschieden: die kommunikative Dimension, die operative Dimension und die Dimension der Managervergutung. Anhand von Daten zur Bilanzierung, zu den Investor Relations, zur Anreizkompatibilitat der Managervergutung und zur Implementation von Rentabilitatszielen wird ein Shareholder-Value-Index konstruiert, der einen Vergleich der Kapitalmarktorientierung der betrachteten Unternehmen erlaubt. Zur Erklarung des Shareholder-Value-Phanomen werden zwei Cluster an Erklarungen prasentiert. Erstens wird das Ausmas an Kapitalmarktorientierung auf den Grad an internationaler Konkurrenz auf den Produktmarkten, auf die zunehmende Handlungsfahigkeit der Kapitalmarktteilnehmer und den Druck des Markts fur Unternehmenskontrolle zuruckgefuhrt. Zweitens fuhren interne Entwicklungen – veranderte Karrieremuster von Topmanagern, steigende Managergehalter und das abnehmende Monitoring durch Banken und Unternehmensnetzwerke – dazu, dass der externe Druck intern auf fruchtbaren Boden fallt. Hinter der Auseinandersetzung um die Shareholder- Value-Orientierung von Unternehmen verbergen sich wechselnde Koalitionen zwischen Aktionaren, Managern und den Interessenvertretungen der Beschaftigten. Shareholder Value fuhrt weder zum Ausstieg der Unternehmen aus Flachentarifvertragen, noch zu Versuchen, sich der Arbeitnehmermitbestimmung zu entledigen. Allerdings verstarkt Kapitalmarktorientierung den Trend zu zunehmend marktgetriebenen industriellen Beziehungen.

Works councils in Germany: their effects on establishment performance

Works councils are the most important pillar of workplace industrial relations in Germany but little is known of their economic effects. The paper uses a modern, large-scale dataset to examine this issue. Consonant with recent applied theoretical conjectures, it is found that works councils are associated with reduced labour fluctuation, higher productivity (in larger establishments only), and no reduction in innovative activity. Yet they are also associated with lower profitability and higher wages. This concatenation of results, although not inconsistent with efficiency, underscores the need for closer investigation of the institution given actual and prospective EU works council mandates.

Institutional Resilience in a Changing World Economy? The Case of the German Bankking and Chemical Industries

This paper examines whether there has been a transformation towards company‐specific and unitarist industrial relations in Germany. On the basis of 25 case studies of employment practices in German and foreign‐owned banks and chemical firms as well as industry data, the research found that the German system has so far remained relatively stable. Companies in the two industries studied generally still comply with the labour market institutions of multi‐employer collective bargaining, workplace representation and initial vocational training. Pressures have been accommodated by changes within the system rather than by a radical change of the system.

Industrial relations in Europe: traditions and transitions

Traditions and Transitions in Industrial Relations - Jelle Visser A European View From Pluralism to... Where? Industrial Relations in Great Britain - Jelle Visser and Joris Van Ruysseveldt Contestation and State Intervention Forever? Industrial Relations in France - Joris Van Ruysseveldt and Jelle Visser Robust Corporatism, Still? Industrial Relations in Germany - Jelle Visser and Joris Van Ruysseveldt Corporatism beyond Repair? Industrial Relations in Sweden - Jelle Visser Weak Corporatisms Going Different Ways? Industrial Relations in the Netherlands and Belgium - Joris Van Ruysseveldt and Jelle Visser A Truly Mixed Case - Jelle Visser Industrial Relations in Italy Aspiring Corporatism? Industrial Relations in Spain - Marc van der Meer The Transformation of Industrial Relations in Some Central and Eastern European Countries - Hans Slomp, Jacques van Hoof and Hans Moerel Revised Diversity - Colin Crouch From the Neo-Liberal Decade to beyond Maastricht

International and Comparative Industrial Relations: A Study of Industrialised Market Economies

1. Introduction - studying international and comparative industrial relations, Greg J. Bamber and Russell D. Lansbury 2. Industrial relations in Britain, Greg J. Bamber and Edward J. Snape 3. Industrial relations in the United States of America, Hoyt N. Wheeler 4. Industrial relations in Canada, Mark Thompson 5. Industrial relations in Australia, Edward M. Davis and Russell D. Lansbury 6. Industrial relations in Italy, Claudio Pellegrini 7. Industrial relations in France, Janine Goetschy and Annette Jobert 8. Industrial relations in Germany, Friedrich Fuerstenberg 9. Industrial relations in Sweden, Olle Hammarstrom 10. Industrial relations in Japan, Yasuo Kuwahara 11. Conclusions - towards a synthesis of international and comparative experience of nine countries, Oliver Clarke. Appendix: employment, economics and industrial relations - comparative statistics, Greg J. Bamber and Gillian Whitehouse.

The Impact of European Integration and German Unification on Industrial Relations in Germany

AbstractCan the present turmoil in German industrial relations be attributed to the effects of the Single Market, or to unification, or to other factors? European regulation or legislation may intervene in the German industrial relations system, may remove responsibilities from national actors, or may, by deregulation, induce stronger interdependence between national regimes. Various instances are considered to evaluate the actual and potential EU impact on German industrial relations. The evidence suggests that fears of ‘social dumping’ in the richer member‐states are largely unfounded, and that the effects of unification and the recession on German industrial relations are currently more significant than the impact of European integration.

Industrial Relations and Trade Union Effects on Innovation in Germany

ABSTRACT: This paper provides a thoretical and empirical evaluation of unions’effects on innovative activity, focussing on institutional details and country‐specific factors. We represent results of an econometric investigation for Germany using data at the industry and establishment level. In contrast to US studies, no statistically significant negative influence of unions on innovative activity shows up from industry‐level data. Establishment‐level data, however, indicate that the presence of a works council is positive for R & D if union density is not “too high”. This is in line with the more cooperative nature of industrial relations in Germany.